Are Teachers Overpaid or Underpaid? – Survey of the Day

Although it varies from state to state, the average salary of a public school teacher in the United States is about $50,000 a year. For comparison sake, the average full-time worker in any profession has a median personal income of about $39,000 a year. Are teachers getting the better end of the stick?

According to a new survey from Poll Position of 1142 adults, they’re not. Fifty-six percent think teachers are underpaid, 13 percent think they are overpaid, 24 percent said they make the right amount, and eight percent didn’t have an opinion on the issue.

Interestingly, 18- to 29-year-olds are the demographic most likely to think teachers are underpaid. Suggesting that the younger a person is, the more likely they are to remember the good their teachers have done. (Or perhaps they are more likely to remember all the hell they put their teachers through.)